unsettled, she fed the animals early, then took the dogs for a long walk on the deserted beach. As she walked back to the circus a helicopter was coming into land on the foreshore.
‘Bond’s Bank’ was emblazoned on the side.
Why?
Maybe this was Matt’s … Mathew’s staff, she corrected herself. He’d said the circus could operate for two weeks but she was under no illusion. The circus belonged to him, lock, stock and barrel, and if he’d brought in a team to pull it apart …
She felt sick.
She stood back and watched as the chopper came to rest, as the rotor blades stopped spinning.
It was a very small chopper for a team of financiers.
Who was she kidding? she thought ruefully. Sparkles was a very small circus. Why would they need a team?
But this small? Only one guy climbed from the chopper and that was the pilot.
This had nothing to do with her, she told herself grimly.
She walked back to the circus, giving the headland and the chopper a wide berth. She walked into the circus enclosure and Matt … Mathew … was waiting for her. Casually dressed. Smiling at her with a smile that could make a girl’s heart do back-flips if a girl’s heart was permitted.
Which it wasn’t.
She loosened the dogs’ leads and the dogs raced to greet him, jumping and yelping as if he was part of the family.
Which he wasn’t. He was Mathew.
‘Back,’ she said to the dogs, but they uncharacteristically ignored her. Maybe because Matt … Mathew … had knelt and was scratching them behind their ears and they were lick-spitting, traitorous hounds and they didn’t know this guy was taking away their lifestyle and they didn’t know this guy was capable of taking away their mistress’s heart …
Only that was a dumb thing to think. She pinned on a smile and moved forward to greet him with what she hoped was dignified courtesy.
‘Good morning.’
‘Good morning yourself,’ he said and straightened and smiled some more and her heart did do that stupid back-flip she’d been telling it not to. ‘It’s a great day for elephant visiting,’ he added.
‘Pardon?’
‘We have a chopper,’ he said. ‘An hour there, an hour back, a couple of hours visiting … You’ll even have time for a wee nap before evening performance.’
‘What …?’
‘You might need a sweater,’ he said. ‘It gets a bit breezy in the chopper. And elephant snacks? What do you take to an elephant you haven’t seen for years?’
‘I …’
‘Just do it,’ he said gently. ‘You know you want to. Your financial adviser says this is a good idea, so who are you to argue?’
He was serious. The chopper was for elephant visiting. Not only had Matt organised for it to be delivered, it seemed he was flying.
‘I’ve had my licence for years,’ he told her cheerfully. ‘Joe’s spending the day on the beach while I take over his machine. It’s economical,’ he said as she opened her mouth to protest—if she could think of the words she needed, which she couldn’t. ‘Two people instead of three. Lots of fuel saved. And don’t tell me I don’t need to come—Bond’s Bank has been financing these elephants for years, and I have a vested interest in inspecting our investment.’
And here was Bella, walking towards her, carrying her jacket. Bella, who spent every waking moment with Henry.
Had Matt lined this up with her Gran? Obviously yes.
‘Matt says he’ll take Henry and me to see them when Henry’s well,’ Bella told her, beaming. ‘But just knowing you’re visiting them today will do your Grandpa good. Give them our love.’ And she placed a paper bag into Allie’s limp hand. ‘Doughnuts,’ she said. ‘They’re very bad but Maisie and Minnie both love them. Sneak them some when no one’s looking.’
Maisie and Minnie. Mother and daughter, great, lumbering Asian elephants, third and fourth generation circus bred, docile and wonderful. Allie had loved them with all her teenage heart, and that was what this mess was about. She’d fought for them.
If she climbed into the chopper with Matt, she could see them in an hour.
But what if … and she should … and it wasn’t …
She had all sorts of protests and not one would come out.
Bella took the two dogs’ leads. ‘Come on, guys, your mistress is visiting past loves today,’ she said as Matt propelled Allie towards the chopper and Allie let herself be propelled because there didn’t seem any alternative. And Matt was large and commanding and he had everything sorted and she thought, just for a moment, wouldn’t it be great to put this whole mess in Matt’s hands and let him sort it out?
There was a dumb thought. Her mess was nothing to do with him—she’d told him that and she was right.
But right now?
Right now she was going to see some friends she hadn’t seen for years.
Where had her grandfather sent them?
Somewhere good, she pleaded silently. Somewhere to make this sacrifice worthwhile.
‘Let’s go,’ Matt said and he helped her into the cockpit.
She sat passive as he adjusted her harness and her headphones and closed her door.
She sat passive as he slid behind the controls, did what he needed to and lifted the chopper from the ground.
She glanced across at Matt and she saw that he was smiling, that faint devil-behind-the-smile glimmer she was starting to know.
It was a smile that made her feel being passive was her only protection.
THE JOB DESCRIPTION for a circus performer didn’t come with the label big earner, so a one-time commercial flight from Sydney to Melbourne was the sum total of Allie’s air travel. She’d never been in a helicopter.
Now she was in a tiny cockpit beside Matt, the cockpit seemed almost a transparent bubble, and she felt like …
She was flying?
She was flying, she told herself, trying hard not to cling to the edge of her seat and whimper. The chopper rose with a speed that took her breath away. She was in a bubble heading for the clouds.
She forgot to breathe.
Fort Neptune grew smaller and smaller. She was in a bubble
